The present invention relates to an improvement of a card read/write device used in an automatic vending machine or an automatic service equipment actuated by a prepaid card.
In the prior art automatic vending machines or automatic service equipment (to be referred to as "card actuated automatic vending machines" hereinafter in this specification) which are actuated by prepaid cards in which are stored the information concerning the amount of money, when a predetermined operation is accomplished in response to the insertion of a card for one time, the settlement information is written on the card and returned to a user. In this case, the card is returned to and maintained at a position from which the user can pull the card out of the machine.
When the user wants to buy a commercial article or to utilize service again under this condition, the user must pull the card out of the machine and insert it into the card insertion inlet again to receive a predetermined operation again.
Therefore it is very cumbersome for the user to repeat the insertion and withdrawal of the card when the user wants the automatic vending machine to repeat its operations.